10 Answers

I use kayak. I have heard that the best rates occur on a Tuesday and are around 57 days before the trip. Unfortunately I never know that far ahead.
To prevent myself from felling like i got screwed I stop looking after I order the tickets.
Step away from the keyboard.
Have a great flight!

If you wait until the last week you pay the highest. The best strategy is to get your tickets at the earliest time you know you going to fly. Kayak.com is good for comparing prices. I use to fly up to twenty times a year for a company that had a ticket agency on-site. They would get the best prices if the tickets were purchased two to three week before the trip.

The quick answer is that there is no simple, foolproof way to ensure you are getting the best price.

All of the airlines do dynamic pricing, meaning that they change the price, from second to second, depending on demand – and not even demand of what is sold, but rather demand on what is being looked for. For example, go to Orbitz, and price the same trip 4–5 times in a 10 minute period. By the fourth time you look, the price will have gone up because they airline is detecting interest.

Kayak and some of the other people in the secondary market have some pretty clever algorithms to exploit these momentary changes, but the real fact is that the airlines jerks around with the fares, and even the Kayaks of the world can’t change that.

Very interesting. I will book earlier. And not look up the same flight multiple times. I have a habit of doing that, this was my first time using kayak I still felt I paid too much but I did wait until the last week. This will be so helpful in the future. Thank you.

Fly Southwest Airlines if possible. They refund your money straight to your credit card with no change fee if you find the ticket cheaper after you have purchased. It’s a price match guarantee that is not advertised.
You must purchase your ticket directly from the airline to take advantage of this.
United, Alaska, and Jet Blue will issue you a travel voucher for the difference in cost, with no change fees. Other Airlines will issue a travel voucher but charge the change fee, which doesn’t make it worth it, usually.

Fly Tuesdays and Wednesdays when possible, those are usually the cheapest days. Avoid flying on or around holidays. Although, immediately before and after the days people most often fly for a holiday the fares can be very very good. For instance the Tuesday following Presidents day is usually really good fares to or from FL. President’s day is one of the biggest vacation weekends of the year down there. Flying Monday can be double flying Tuesday or Wednesday that week. Many airlines now have a flexible date option where you can see fares for several dates and choose the least expensive.